Hank Shizzoe was born 1966 smack dab in the middle of Europe. After being condemned to play the recorder in school and eight years of clarinette studies he got his first guitar at the age of 16. From college he moved on to university studies of English literature and law before dropping out and working as a journalist.

Since 1994 Hank Shizzoe has released 14 albums. Together with his band and solo he has played 1.500 concerts in Europe and the US between Los Angeles, Boston, Budapest, Bergen and Tangier. He has shared the stage with Ali Farka Touré, David Lindley, Sonny Landreth, The Nits, John Sinclair, Micheline Presle and Louis Bertignac. Support shows paired him with Bob Dylan, ZZ Top, Bo Diddley, Flaco Jimenez and many others.

Since 2011 Hank Shizzoe plays in Stephan Eicher's band. After working on Eicher's album L'Envolée they embarked on an extensive tour with 100 concerts in France, Belgium and Switzerland. In 2014 Stephan Eicher produced Hank's flamboyant abum Songsmith. The ensuing tour introduced the new Hank Shizzoe Trio featuring Tom Etter (Züri West) on guitar and Simon Baumann (Stephan Eicher, Junior & Baumon) on drums and samples.

Hank Shizzoe produced records for Claudia Bettinaglio, The Moondog Show, Christine Lauterburg, played for Shirley Grimes, Nanina Ghelfi, Yvonne Moore, Guesch Patti, Dechen Shak-Dagsay and many more. He regularly performs on and behind the theatre stage and is a frequent talk guest on Swiss radio SRF 2 Culture.

In 2015 and 2016 Hank Shizzoe will perform This Place Belongs To The Birds live together with his trio and solo. Before Christmas 2015 a project that has been in the works for a long time will finally be released: The luxurious box set Roundabout will feature live and studio tracks from the years 1991-2002, the roots and blues album Get A Move On with original material and songs by Charley Patton, Robert Johnson, Randy Newman, Bob Dylan, Nick Lowe and others plus a DVD featuring an entire concert from 2002, performed by Hank Shizzoe & Loose Gravel with Sonny Landreth. Hank is also already writing album No. 15. To be continued...

But let's focus on the present: With his 14th album in 20 years, Hank Shizzoe comes full circle and finds his way back to what made him want to become a musician in the first place: acoustic guitars and the depth and truth that we love about folk music. This Place Belongs To The Birds is a light and swinging album about inner journeys and The Great Outdoors. It presents ten songs, performed and recorded in an atmosphere that provides ample space for music and lyrics and gives the listener time to discover and enjoy it. These are simple, warm and honest songs by an artist who says of himself that he has trained for 25 years to finally make this album.

Those who have seen and heard Hank Shizzoe on stage in the past two decades know that he is no stranger to hard, raw and driving rock'n'roll music. And yet his deep love for folk, country blues and all kinds of world music always showed. While his trademark (slide) guitar style may nod to such varied influences as Ry Cooder, Billy F. Gibbons, David Hidalgo, Ali Farka Touré or Mark Knopfler - all players with deep connections to roots music - his songwriting always oriented itself on the folk tradition. Never has this been more evident in his illustrious career than here, on the new album This Place Belongs To The Birds.

What’s with the title? Hanks says, “considering that there are over 10’000 species of birds with a total population of 300 billion on Earth I think it explains itself. They are descendants of dinosaurs, they sing really well, travel in style and we are their guests.” Elsewhere on the album we meet “The Abominable Snowman”, learn how easy it is to “Miss The Plains”, and why we climb the mountain. “Because It’s There”. Along with two covers (“I Wanna Be Loved By You”, made famous by Marilyn Monroe and “End Of The Line” by The Traveling Wilburys) there is also an adaption of Stephan Eicher’s “Weiss nid was es isch” (“Don’t Know What It Is”), a hymn to the journey into the unknown (“Away I Go”), we are invited to listen to the “Ballad Of The Warm Bed” and get treated to a very elegant piece of ornithology with the title track.

This album is also a pleasure to listen to because great care was taken in the production. The sure-footed arrangements provide ample space for intricately woven acoustic guitars, marimbas, strings, French horn and steel guitar with the occasional sprinkle of electric slide. Guests include drummer Simon Baumann, French hornist Baptiste Germser and old friend Michel Poffet on upright bass. In the centre of it all resides a deep baritone voice that means every word it is singing. These songs are not vignettes about lifestyle, they revolve around life itself. Human craftsmanship meets nature, a fascinating murmuration of sounds and words. Yes, This Place Belongs To The Birds."

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Yo, Edgar, what’s going on with „Live And Never Learn?“ Why aren’t you returning our emails? Are you manufacturing? Should we re-press our own CD? We’re planning on getting CDs from you, but if that’s not happening give us some notice so we don’t show up in UK with no CDs.